(09-29-2017, 06:14 PM)iamsms Wrote: Even though I have bought quite a few B&M soaps over the years, they weren't what I considered top tier(performance wise) in my den ..... until I tried the Reserve base.
Reserve Fern exceeded my expectation in almost every aspect. I haven't used any other soap that is easier to lather (not that it is a big deal). The slickness, post shave, scent are all better than earlier iterations of B&M soaps. Only minor issue I have is the lack of firmness of the soap ( but that really is a negligible thing).
What can I say, job extremely well done!!
I partially agree with you. Until Reserve came along, Glissant was my benchmark soap.
To clarify benchmark (for me anyway):
It excels in the following:
- Ease of lather (in the presence of hard water)
- Slickness
- Residual slickness
- Cushion *
- Post-shave
*
Cushion is a nebulous term in shaving, so what I'm calling cushion means protection. I'm referring to the density of the lather that allows the comb or bar to float just above the skin. Some people may call that glide. If the angle is right, the blade removes that cushion, which is where slickness becomes important. Then, if you like to revisit some freshly shorn areas without reapplying lather, this is where residual slickness is important. These are all my personal observations. I have not seen an "official" glossary.
Just because my benchmark
excels in all of the aforementioned attributes, it doesn't mean that it's the hands down
winner in
all of them. For instance, there are other soaps that provide slickness
superior to to my benchmark soap, but they don't necessarily excel in the
other areas.
The bottom line is that there are about 8 artisans that are neck and neck with Glissant. For now, anyway, I feel like Reserve is a skosh better than Glissant in terms of ease of lather. I agree with you that ease of lather may be a small matter. That is until you have extremely hard water.
Ultimately, there are many other factors that contribute to a soap's performance from an individual aspect (experience/technique/prep, hardware, skin, water attributes, hair attributes, etc.)
I do not consider cost, fragrance, or appearance while evaluating a soap's
performance which is what makes this "hobby" so great right now. There are so many artisans that provide products that perform so spectacularly, that we can look to more trivial aspects such as packaging or fragrance in deciding on which ones to purchase.
![[Image: yCooFPW.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/yCooFPW.jpg)
